Serious Games in Business

Abstract

The intention of this book chapter is to give an overview about Serious Games from a scientific as well as from a business related point of view. As a first step, several existing definitions of Serious Games are examined, and the differences and similarities of these games and common computer games are presented. In the next step, some goals of Serious Games and their dependency on the application scenario and/or the kind of business in which the game is used are analyzed. Afterwards, the focus switches to Serious Games developed for an economic context. The specific goals of such games are presented, and the influence of these goals on design and development requirements is discussed. Furthermore, how the application scenario influences Serious Game design is examined. Last but not least, some use cases are presented in order to demonstrate the possibilities of Serious Games for training and learning purposes.

Key Terms in this Chapter

Serious Game: A learning method that uses the characteristics of computer games in order to playfully impart specific knowledge to their users.

Organizational Dynamic Gaming: A type of Serious Game that focuses on the complex processes between persons in an organization.

Persuasive Game: A type of Serious Game that tries to change its player’s behaviour through persuasion techniques.

ADVERGAMING: A type of Serious Game that uses interactive game technologies in order to convey interactive advertisements via internet to a potential customer. Advergames integrate the advertising message directly in the course of the game.